KANSAS CITY —The Kansas City Fire Department released a statement on their role in the search of a home for a deadly shooting suspect a week before the body of 22-year-old Oscar Sanchez-Munoz was found.
On Wednesday, the family Sanchez-Munoz found his body beneath rubble in the basement of their Independence home. He is beleived responsible for a series of shootings along Interstate 70 and 670 in the Kansas City area on June 16. One shooting left a 43-year-old man dead.
According to the statement, "The Kansas City Police Department, in conjunction with the Independence Police and Fire Departments, requested assistance from the Kansas City Fire Department with one of our human remains detection (cadaver) dog teams. The dog and handler were deployed to assist with the search."
'During the operation, the dog gave what the handler described as a soft alert in the basement of the structure. Based on that indication, the KCFD Battalion Chief conducted a thorough physical search of all accessible areas of both the first floor, where the individual was believed to have been, and the basement where the dog alerted."
"After completing that search, no human remains were located. The Battalion Chief communicated to the investigating agencies that he had searched every area that was physically accessible and, based on those search efforts, did not believe there were human remains in the areas that could be examined at that time."
"The Kansas City Fire Department's role was limited to providing the requested specialized search resources and conducting the follow-up physical search. That information, including the canine alert and the Battalion Chief's assessment, was relayed to the investigating agencies before KCFD concluded its assistance approximately 30 minutes after arriving on scene."
"As additional information has since come to light, we believe it is important to clarify that the decisions made by the investigating agencies were based, in part, on the information and assessment provided by KCFD at the time. We believe it is appropriate to provide that context so that our law enforcement partners are not portrayed as having disregarded the assistance that was provided."